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PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio1020 KDKA) – Fifty years ago, The Beatles came to the United States and mania ensued.

KDKA Radio’s Bill Rehkopf and the Afternoon News is reliving 1964, hearing firsthand accounts from a variety of people and listening to some pretty cool stories.

First, Bill talked with Judy Freed, who attended the 1964 concert when The Beatles came to the Civic Arena.

She won tickets from a local radio show and a friend’s dad drove her and friends to Pittsburgh. A concert that took place 50 years ago, some memories typically fade away, but Freed lets us in on a secret of how she has such a vivid memory of the night.

“I came home immediately and wrote everything in my diary and that’s how I can remember everything so well because I have it documented in my diary. I have every song that they sang and I’ve been going through my diary and just laughing,” Freed said.

Our next guest was able to give us a pretty amazing look into The Beatles travels to the USA, literally. She was the stewardess on the Pan-American flight the band traveled on.

Jill L’Eplattenier recalls the memories of that flight and how she found out who their passengers were.

“The first officer stood up on the back of the bus faced us with a Beatles mask on and said, ‘Guess who we have on board today?’ Everyone is oooing and ahhing and I’m sitting there like who are The Beatles?” she said.

L’Eplattenier describes her experiences with the fabulous four, from their excitement to begin their journey to the respect they showed the crew during their flight.

Finally, Pittsburgh native B.E. Taylor tells us about his memories surrounding The Beatles and the effect it had on him.

“I knew they were going to be on The Ed Sullivan Show and I was pretty excited. So when the show came on, my mother, my father and my brother were sitting on the couch and I was kneeling in front of them and when it came on, boom! I mean, I had goosebumps. I was excited; and as they were singing, I pointed at the television turned around and looked at them and said that’s what I want to do,” Taylor Said.

Taylor talks about how the music of The Beatles continued to grow and so did his passion for music. He claims that their music changed the way everyone listened to music. He is still a fan today and loves their music.